Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Kerrigan is a character from the Starcraft series. As a human, she plays a minor role in the original Terran campaign, but becomes far more influential as an infested character in the Zerg campaign. She's the central character in the Brood War expansion and had appeared again in Starcraft II. Sarah Kerrigan was the third character to join Celestial Eruption RP, and has only been played by one player. 'Background' Sarah Kerrigan’s psychic powers were first demonstrated when she accidentally killed her mother and damaged the brain of her father, who would later die of complications from the damage. She was quickly abducted into the Confederate Ghost Program where, at the age of eight, she scored highly on all phases of the psi-evaluations. She was designated Ghost No. 24 and sent on a series of covert operations. During one such operation, she was ‘rescued’ by Arcturus Mengsk who established her as his lieutenant. She served in this capacity until Mengsk used the zerg against the confederates, dispatching Kerrigan to guard the primary hive cluster until the confederates were destroyed, a suicide mission. Unbeknown to all, the Zerg Swarm captured Kerrigan, rather than killing her. The Overmind intended to use Kerrigan’s psychic powers against the protoss. Sarah Kerrigan was reborn as a human-zerg hybrid and adopted the name “Queen of Blades.” She quickly infiltrated the Amerigo to recover the secrets to breaking her ghost conditioning, releasing the full potential of her psychic powers. Now able to sense the presence of the protoss, she chased down Tassadar and Zeratul leading to a series of running battles ultimately resulting in the death of the Overmind. Kerrigan, now in direct control of nearly half of the remaining zerg, moved against the Cerebrates in order to establish herself as the sole ruler of the Swarm. She personally informed Zeratul and the Protoss of a new Overmind, formed from a merging of senior Cerebrates, growing on Char. With this information, she is able to manipulate them into destroying rival zerg. However, the United Earth Directorate arrives and is successful in capturing the new Overmind. Kerrigan exploits the sudden appearance of the UED to forge an alliance with Mengsk, Raynor and several Protoss, turning around the war against the UED. Kerrigan quickly betrays this alliance and strikes at the armies of Raynor and Mengsk leaving both groups heavily damaged. Kerrigan then abducted the Protoss leader Raszagal, using her to blackmail Zeratul into killing the new Overmind resulting in all the remaining zerg to fall under her control. Soon after, Kerrigan's position on Char is attacked by a coalition consisting of a vengeful Protoss fleet, the remnants of the UED's invasion force and a mercenary fleet commanded by Mengsk. Despite being outnumbered, Kerrigan's forces prevail, leaving her the dominant force in the sector. 'Involvement' Sarah Kerrigan entered the Multiverse after a warp-jump to Char went off course and landed her on the geologically similar planet of Mustafar. Still recovering from the power-draining effects of the transition, she explored her surroundings in the interest of creating a permanent outpost there. After a crash course in the nature of the new multiverse she found herself in, she was able harness the latent dark energies of the planet to summon her old Cerebrate, the one who had assisted with the destruction of the second Overmind. With the massive zerg’s coordination abilities at her command, Kerrigan was able to establish a base of operations that would eventually become her new primary hive. 'First Rise' Although she was intimately involved in the creation of theBastion of Darkness and the general direction of the villainous parties in the multiverse, she did little of multiversal importance until theYol’ari invasion. When the invasion began, Sarah herself was competing in the tournament of champions, which placed her in prime position to defeat the Yol'ari's harbinger. Reacting swiftly with mobility granted to her by Mal’nor’s own ship, Sarah was able to coordinate counter-offenses on several worlds. By the end of the Yol'ari invasion, Kerrigan had established herself as the master of bothGaia andBelvelle. Perhaps most important to her personal goals, she was able to recover two highly compatible Yol’ari citizens from which she created a new sub-species of zerg. In the aftermath of the Yol’ari invasion, Kerrigan joined with Etna, Solidus and Irencus to form the Ascendancy, a faction which ruled the worlds won in the series of defenses and counter-assaults against the demons. Her virtually unassailable position of power led several beings in the multiverse to seek her out with a desire to join the Swarm as infested versions of themselves. While at the time she was happy to oblige them in the hopes of creating a more powerful zerg race, she would come to seriously regret this spread of influence as the zerg hybrids became more and more independent, some going as far as to directly counter her. She realized, with disgust, that she had made the same mistake the Overmind had when it had created her. With few options remaining open to her, Kerrigan departed for UE space to recover the nano-medicine that would allow her to restore these beings to their former state and end their influence over the zerg. After that fiasco, Kerrigan began to withdraw again from society outside of the zerg hive until she essentially disappeared. Although she was tangentially involved in the God Wars, she was left alone as a result of her and her brood’s unwillingness to recognize any being as a deity. Her withdrawal, combined with his own shifting allegiances, would lead Solidus to betray their alliance and assault her stronghold and bring her to battle, an event that lead to her death at his hands. 'Rebirth' Under the direction of Cerebrate, Rok’ark and other members of Kerrigan’s Brood recovered her broken body and returned it to Mustafar. There she was placed back in a chrysalis while Neuromancer and Cerebrate performed the long process of reconstructing her psyche. She emerged over a year later transformed by the incident and motivated by a renewed sense of purpose. Her rather complete death, however, had left her severely weakened and caused all but the closest of her brood to turn wild. Her first act as the resurrected Queen of the Zerg was to lead a dramatic and destructive infiltration of Shin-ra Tower, her former HQ. Although it unknown how she escaped from the depths of the Tower from under the Shin-ra Police’s nose, when she reappeared on the moon, she had nearly returned to her former strength. She tested that strength in the arena against Alan Schezar, a defeat that forced her to accept that there were others, now, who could claim the same level of power she did. Having regained the majority of her former abilities, Kerrigan then moved to reclaim ownership of the worlds that had been claimed by others during her absence. She began by infiltrating Hyrule Castle, the main headquarters of the Lords of Midnight. She left a fellow Lord and reinstated as the head of Mustifar. Accompanied by her fellow Lords SA-X and Ganandorf, Kerrigan invaded the world of Spira, where Kerrigan had once reigned. In a surprising turn of events, the Valorians surrendered the planet without combat. Thrown off by the lack of a physical conquest, Kerrigan reinstated the original ruling triumvirate and left a token garrison before heading off into the wormhole. She returned to find the city had almost fallen to a monster surge, saved only by the coincidental arrival of Serina. Embarrassed by this turn of events, Kerrigan made plans to ensure the future security of the realm, both from external threats and its own monsters. She and her cadre spearheaded an assault on the Bevelle underground and relocated Cerebrate there, whose ability to aid Kerrigan in the multiverse had been muted by Mustafar's interdimentional distance. There he is supported by a major zerg hive able to produce the military forces necessary to insure Spira's protection and act out Kerrigan's will across the Multiverse. Once again on a solid foundation the Queen of Blades began making plans for continued conquest. Before that came to fruition, however Kerrigan traveled to the Lunar Flotilla to investigate a mysterious Terran Science Vessel that had been appearing and disappearing from Lunar Orbit. Alarmed by an artifact she discovered on board, Kerrigan insisted on traveling back with the science vessel, leaving behind her Cadre and a promise to return quickly. 'The Xel’naga Artifact' (This follows the events of '''Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty')'' Finding herself back in the Korprulu sector, Kerrigan stole a second shuttle from the Science Vessel and set a course for Char, where she regrouped with the Zerg forces and took command of them again. From the assistant she left behind, Izsha, Kerrigan learned less than four years had passed since her disappearance, less than half of the years she’d spent in the multiverse. The Char Brood Mother accepted the Reborn Kerrigan as her queen and ruler of the Zerg, though many others resisted, not recognizing her current form. More concerned with time then strength of forces, Kerrigan lead her portion of the swarm to Mar Sara, where she arrived just in time to find Jim Raynor departing with the artifact fragment having just held off the massive swarm of zerg the fragment’s energy had summoned. Too late to follow the Hyperion’s warp trail, Kerrigan turned her attention to the other fragments. Concerned that any attempts at recovering the fragment would require her to perform a more significant invasion into Dominion space, she retreated and worked to bring the rest of her Brood Mothers back into the fold. Weeks later, with no other solid leads on the artifact’s location, Kerrigan dispersed the reformed swarm across the sector to scan for the strong and unique radiation signatures the artifacts gave off. She found one quickly, though it was guarded by the Protoss. She ordered an immediate invasion, but without any advanced bioforms present the zerg found they were unable to push through the Protoss defense before Jim Raynor’s troops assaulted through the back door and swiped the artifact. As more time passed on without any leads to the remaining fragments, Kerrigan decided to return to her original source of information, the Mobius Foundation. Gathering up a powerful force of Zerg, she personally lead the assault on the research world of Tyrador VIII were the foundation based. Once again Raynor’s Raiders managed to thwart her efforts, destroying all of the datacores before Kerrigan could withdraw any useful information. Frustrated, the Queen of Blades returned to Char to await the discovery of the artifacts by her far flung scouts. Ultimately, the artifact would come to her. Minsk’s heir apparent Valorian, Jim Raynor and half the Dominion fleet came charging down on Char unexpectedly, the completed Xel’naga artifact safe in the Hyperion’s hold. Kerrigan instantly sent orders for the Swarm to return to Char, but most of her forces were flung far across the sector. Despite having Kerrigan lead them, the Zerg were unable to prevent the Dominion forces from landing and securing a foothold on the planet. Her plans for a swift counter attack were crippled when Raynor destroyed her nydus network. Eventually the completed artifact was set up near her primary hive cluster, and Kerrigan herself lead the assault on the Terran firebase. Despite her personal power and an extensive air assault, she was unable to destroy the base and secure the artifact. The assault ended when the Xel’naga Artifact released its fully charged blast destroying the hive cluster and ripping nearly all the infestation out of the Queen of Blades. Sarah Kerrigan was, at least mostly, human again. 'The Human Element' (This follows the events of '''Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm')'' Saved from death by Jim Raynor, the near-human Sarah Kerrigan was whisked away to the Hyperion. After several fights with Mingsk’s fleet and briefly hiding from Dominion search teams with the mercenary leader Mira Horner, Sarah and the raiders return to Valorian’s asteroid base. The base turns out to be an ambush, and although Sarah and Jim are able to destroy the assault teams and escape, Mingsk successfully escapes with the Artifact. Sarah is then transported to one of Valorian’s far flung outposts, where she has time and treatment to recover. The peace does not last, as the hidden outpost is discovered by Mingsk and assaulted by Dominion forces. Sarah is able to escape the issuing battle but Jim falls behind and is captured. When Jim doesn’t show, Sarah heads back for him, hijacking a nearby Zerg hive to provide her with forces to destroy a Dominion Anti-aircraft cannon that would have cut off any chance of escape Jim had. Her efforts prove futile; however, as she receives a newscast reporting that Jim Raynor had been captured and executed. With Jim dead, and amnesia robbing her of all other worthwhile connections, Sarah found solace in the thought of revenge, the only thing she had left to live for. She realized, however, that she would never be able to kill Mingsk by herself. Burning with new determination, Sarah headed for Zerg space to reclaim the swarm once again. She arrived at her leviathan only to learn that the far flung swarm had fragmented upon her “death” even worse than during her earlier disappearance. To make the issue even more difficult, her more human form would make it even harder to convince the Brood Mothers to take her as their Queen. She set out gathering her forces, evolving and strengthening the swarm as she did so. After reclaiming two Zerg swarms by eliminating the remaining Terrans on Char and the Protoss on Kaldir, Sarah was confronted by Zeratul, who forced her to witness the primal zerg. Although suspicious of the dark protoss’ motives, her desire for revenge lead her to the planet where she awoke Zurvan, a primal zerg older then the overmind. Zurvan told her about the Dark Xel’naga Amon, as well as instructing her on how to claim the power of the primal Zerg. In need of strength and with no one left to be human for, Sarah accepted his advice and absorbed the primal strength into herself. Finishing her gathering of the primal power, Kerrigan was forced to slay all the elder monsters of Zerus, including Zurvan himself, who revealed he had only helped Kerrigan so he would have someone worth absorbing the essence of. Flush with power and now accompanied by a contingent of primal zerg, Kerrigan returned to the Koprulu sector only to be contacted by Alexei Stukov, who warned her that to complete her destruction of Mingsk, she would first need to destroy Narud and the Protoss-Zerg hybrids he was creating. Kerrigan agreed, and with ex-test subject Stukov’s help assaulted the extremely well defended Terran research station. After a long and bitter fight through what Stukov called the second most heavily defended location in the Dominion, Kerrigan discovered a secret under-laboratory where she found Narud, surrounded by the Tal'darim protoss who worshiped him. Narud was revealed to be an ancient shape shifter and lieutenant to the Dark Voice Amon. The two fought, with Narud first taking the form of Jim Raynor, then of pre-infested Kerrigan. Although Narud succeeded in impaling Kerrigan with a psyblade, Kerrigan used her wings to end Narud’s life. Before he died, Narud taunted Kerrigan that she would meet Amon soon. When she recovered, Kerrigan set about making plans to assault Korhal. These plans were interrupted by a message from Mingsk. He informed Kerrigan that Jim was still alive, and if she wanted him to stay that way, she needed to say away from Korhal. Her desire for revenge now sidelined to her need to rescue the one she still loved, she contacted the Hyperion. The Zerg had no way to hack the dominion network and discover where Raynor was being held, she needed Valerian & Horner’s help. They reluctantly agreed, and after a few of their own side adventures were able to provide Kerrigan with location of the prison ship he was being held on. Kerrigan timed her assault for when it was refueling, and went personally to rescue her love. The ship fell to the swarm, and Kerrigan personally freed Jim from his cell. Her heart fell at Jim’s horror at Kerrigan re-infesting herself, and brushed of her attempt at justification. She handed him his pistol, and put her head to the barrel, reminding him he had promised to kill the Queen of Blades. Despite his disgust, he couldn’t kill her. Sarah told him she still loved him, but Jim replied that they were through. Kerrigan withdrew and drowned the sorrow in revenge. She contacted Valerian told him to be ready to lead his people, he was about to succeed his father. At his insistence, Kerrigan agreed to land her troops outside the city to give him time to evacuate the civilians, despite the difficulties this would present to the Swarm. Still with all the swarm behind her, Kerrigan made a landing and sieged the capital city. After a minor distraction to destroy Mingsk secret anti-zerg weapon, she prepared to assault his palace. Unexpectedly, the Hyperion, with Jim Raynor at its head, landed beside her and joined in the assault, fulfilling his vow to end Mingsk together. Despite the elite dominion forces defending the palace, Kerrigan fought her way in and found Arcturus Mingsk in his study. He, however, had had the Xel’naga artifact installed in the room’s floor, and used its energies to neutralize Kerrigan, forcing her to the floor in a fetal position. Before he could kill her, however, Raynor appeared and destroyed the remote, freeing Kerrigan to finally extract her revenge from the man who had betrayed them all. 'To Kill a God' With Mingsk dead, Kerrigan ordered the Zerg to withdraw from Korhal. After saying her own goodbyes to Raynor, Kerrigan herself also ascended to the heavens to prepare the swarm for the ultimate and inevitable fight against Amon. Though she now had clarity of thought and the entirety of the swarm under her control, Kerrigan realized she had neither the knowledge nor idea how to fight, much less slay, a being of Amon’s knowledge and power, a being that created the swarm to be his army. She needed to find someone who had slain a god, someone who’s knowledge Amon couldn’t know, and she knew of only one place to find that – the Multiverse. Unwilling to risk trusting Valorian’s men again, and afraid of losing to time to physical travel, Kerrigan took her personal swarm to defend her, Kerrigan returned to the Xel’naga temple on Xil. There, using it’s abilities as a psychic amplifier, she reached out across dimensions, searching for the mind she knew would lead her back to the multiverse, the mind of the only living cerebrate. When she finally located him, she released her psyche, sending it out of space and time to be reborn. 'Return to the Multiverse' Unbeknownst to Kerrigan, during her disappearance a parallel version of Jim Raynor had himself arrived in the multiverse, having just left Char in his own time line. Stored safely in heart of the Hyperion’s medical bay was his version Sarah, still unconscious after being disinfested by the Xal’naga artifact. When Kerrigan’s psyche arrived in the multiverse she did not find herself in her hive on Spira, ready to be reborn. Instead the strange laws of the Multiverse took over, and insisted that only one Sarah Kerrigan exist, Forcing her primal zerg infested mind into her almost human human parallel body. The combined Sarah Kerrigan woke up moments later aboard the crashed Hyperion, trying to reconcile two sets of memories into a unified whole, all while reconnecting with Jim. Meanwhile Cerebrate, still acting on his last orders, leads the Zerg on a bloody conquest of the Mushroom World and made a deal with Variphyla, exchanging a magical sword for a sample of the demon's essence. Category:Player Characters 'Followers' Kerrigan is accompanied on her travels by a number of zerg bioforms who aid her in a variety of ways. Although there are dozens of fixed types, and even more variations or experimental mutations, they can be broadly classified into three large groups. Her Cadre are her closest allies and advisers, many who provide special skills and fight alongside her in most engagements. They are also the only ones to have statistics. Next are the unique creatures, individual members of her brood who have distinguished themselves in some way. Many of these unique creatures serve non-combat or background rolls for her. Lastly, there is the Swarm, the mass of zerg who all call her Queen and live or die by her whim. 'Cadre' 'Rok'ark' Rok'ark is a unique zerg-Yol'ari hybrid who stands above the rest of them the same way Kerrigan herself stands above infested terrans. During the infestation process of the original two Yol'ari, Kerrigan discovered the female was pregnant. The child was infested and hybridized in-utero, producing a much stronger, more powerful hybrid than his mother or any spawned sinse. As a result of his unique origins, Rok'ark is the most independently minded zerg, save for Cerebrate, in Kerrigan's Brood. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, he is also one of her most loyal followers. Rok'ark learned extensively about the demonic side of his heritage, and has embraced it as part of his own nature. Despite this seemingly split loyalty, Kerrigan has rewarded his dedication with the one thing he's desired, the ability to preserve the existence of his people in the multiverse. Rok'ark has accompanied Kerrigan on many of her adventures across the multiverse, and even beyond it when she traveled deep into UED space after the infestation cure. He stood by her side while gods fought, and as her power and influence began to fade. Finaly, when Kerrigan was killed by Solidus, Rok'ark led the strike team that recovered her body and personally carried her back to the chrysalis chamber on Mustafar. When she recovered, he accompanied her into Shin-ra Tower, and had been by her side ever sense. 'Neuromancer' Neromancer is a unique zerg defiler, and unintended experiment into the way the multiverse could change and open new opportunities to the Zerg. Constructing the Mustafar hive extensive minerals, many of which were gathered from the detritus of artifacts and biological material left behind by Planeswalkers and other early multiversal explorers. These unusual minerals and gases were used in the evolution of the defiler lair and infused into its first child. Neuromancer developed a number of unusual powers never before seen among the zerg, or even among the terrans and protoss. As later explained by Sarah's former ally Irencus, rather than the normal psychic and biological abilities, Neuromancer was born with the innate ability to both learn and perform true magic. Despite not being particularly intelligent by wizarding standards (though normal by defiler standards), he has demonstrated a striking aptitude for learning and developing magical spells. Neuromancer is one of Kerrigan's longest associates in the multiverse, he has nevertheless been somewhat less ever-present than Rok'ark. He accompanies his Queen whenever she feels that she may require magical assistance to accomplish her goals, but spends much of the rest of the time in his own studies, developing new spells or leaning ones acquired from across the multiverse. His greatest magical accomplishment was the resurrection of Sarah Kerrigan, in which he had a major role. 'Octavia' Octavia, so named because she was the eighth attempt, was the first successful cyberlisk in Kerrigan's brood. Unlike the earlier attempts, she emerged alive and able to operate a portion of her cybernetics. As Kerrigan and Cerebrate conferred on adjustments to the next attempt, Octavia used the cybernetic limbs she could move to cut herself open and make adjustments. Within minutes she had activated her other arm, and from there continued until she had rebuilt nearly her entire body, cybernetic and organic components alike. Octavia has an almost childlike demeanor, filled with an innate curiosity about the biological and mechanical world. She also has an incredible capacity for learning about these two subjects, which she does not view as separate at all. When not disassembling or reassembling things, she has displayed a traditionally zerg aptitude at close combat, as well as skilled driving ability. As the newest member of Kerrigan's close cadre, the clearing of Via Purifico will be her first action alongside her Queen. 'Individuals' 'Cerebrate' Cerebrates are perhaps the bioform most closely related to the original zerg parasite, though on a much larger and more intelligent scale. This particular cerebrate was originally in Daggoth's brood, until Kerrigan severed his connection to the new Overmind. He served under Kerrigan until his death during the interbellum period. Finding his assistance unnecessary, Kerrigan simply didn't bother reincarnating him. After her transport into the Multiverse, however, she found herself in need of the massive zerg's coordination abilities again and so had him reborn on her primary hive cluster on Mustafar. Cerebrate has acted as Kerrigan's lieutenant for nearly her entire time in the multiverse, typically operating in a remote and background capacity. He was intrinsically involved in the creation of the Yol'ari Grunts as well as the development of the cyberlisk, both projects he considers a significantly better success than their earlier attempts to perfect the infested terrans. As time progressed, his location on Mustifar became an increasing liability, however, so when Kerrigan succeded in recapturing Spira and creating a new primary hive under it's capital city, Cerebrate summoned the massive energies to move himself, and joined her there. 'Frel'naq' Although his original species is hard to see now, Frel'naq is a Yol'ari-Zerg hybrid created by Kerrigan at the end of the Yol'ari invasion. Chosen both for his knowledge and his highly compatible genetics, Frel'naq was infested carefully by a combined effort of Cerebrate and Kerrigan to preserve his mental capacity. Their efforts were mostly successful; his only fault being an overdeveloped unquestioning loyalty. In the years since his infestation, Frel'naq has continued to serve the Queen of Blades in his original capacity: as a scientist. His first work was to oversee the final adjustments to the Yol'ari genome that allowed for the creation of the Grunt bioform. From there he began work on isolating particular useful traits from a verity of creatures in the multiverse until his work as interrupted by Kerrigan's death. It was then that his unwavering loyalty became a great liability, causing him to descend into isolated madness in his laboratory. As his madness grew, he turned to experimenting on himself, eventually discovering the base strands of the Zerg's original living genetic library. Taking that into himself, he has now mutated beyond all physical recognition, strongly resembling the creature who's genetics he stole, Abathur. He has begun to recover, at least mentally, with Kerrigan's return, and was instrumental in isolating a useful genome for the cyberlisks. 'Ul'tak' Ul’tak is another heavily mutated Yol’ari-Zerg hybrid and the biological mother of Rok’ark. Ul’tak was captured by Kerrigan near the end of the Yol’ari invasion and given the chance to join the swarm and preserve her species. She accepted and, even more then the less compatible Fral’naq, became the primary genomic source for the Yol’ari intigration. While the transformation left her mentally acute (and without the psychotic uses Frel’naq suffered) She suffered physically. Kerrigan left her to oversee Mustifar’s hive cluster and the growth of the pure strain yol’ari grunts. She continued to maintain the hive on Mustifar even as the planet’s location and importance waned. It was not until Cerebrate moved himself and the primary hive to Spira that Ul’tak relocated. She organized and implemented the Via Purifico hive cluster and the development of its resource gathering and bioform generating facilities. She also intended to act as Kerrigan’s voice with the ruling triumvirate, but again found herself hampered by physical damage. This last hurtle would be finally overcome when Fral’naq obtained a drop of Variphyla’s essence, which he was able to weave into her already demonic form to solve the last incompatibility. 'Devours Children' Devours Children is Kerrigan's pet zergling, and a metamorph. Over the years he's been mutated and metamophised into several incarnations of zergling, often prototyping new mutations or adjustments to the strain. He is both highly loyal and affectionate towards Kerrigan, often following her and sitting by her feet even when not being psychically controlled. Despite his longevity and mutations, he is not particularly more powerful than any other zergling in the swarm. 'The Swarm' Sarah Kerrigan's Multiverse Brood represents the zerg during a transitional time between Starcraft I and Starcraft II. She has already phased out the majority of the Starcraft I units that are not carried over, but has not yet evolved quite all of the creatures from Starcraft II. 'Basic Forces' [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Zergling Zerglings] Zerglings are the smallest of the common zerg combat creatures, about a meter to the shoulder. They are six-limbed creatures, with clawed hind legs, webbed front legs and up facing arms that end in scythe like talons. Kerrigan uses lone zerglings as scouts, or forms them up into large hordes to assault a position. Fral'naq is still working on stabilizing the Baneling mutation; he swears he's close to a breakthrough. [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Hydralisk Hydralisks] Hydralisks are a snake-like breed of Zerg who typically stand about around 3 meters tall, though their full body length is close to 6. They primarily attack by launching small spines from their belly at supersonic speeds, though they can also use their large, scythe-like arms if a combat turns to melee. Effective against both ground and air, hydralisks are the second most numerous breed in Kerrigan's brood, and form the backbone of her forces. [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Roach Roaches] Roaches are a heavy shelled quadruped whose armored back reaches up to about two meters. They are extremely hard to kill, even by zerg standards, and regenerate extra quickly. Their primary attack is to spit a corrosive acid at their enemies, though like most zerg, they can fight with claws if their enemy is to close. Although roaches were first hatched just after the Brood War, Kerrigan had difficulty transplanting them to the multiverse, and they've only now started to join her army. [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Mutalisk Mutalisks] Mutalisks are a strange flying zerg who's C-shaped bodies are held aloft by a pair of great leathery wings. They are fast and agile, though not very resilient to damage. To attack, they project a symbiotic creature which quickly and explosively begins to break down as soon as it has left its host's body. It usually has just enough life to smash itself into three targets before it completely disintegrates. [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Overlord Overlords] Overlords are large bloated floating zerg who are most similar in appearance to old terrestrial blimps. They have no combat ability, but are critical to the zerg's psychic command and control network. In addition to monitoring zerg forces, they can also provide transport within special caverns in their bodies. 'Advanced Forces' [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Queen_(StarCraft_II) Queens] Queens are a very new strain of zerg, who share nothing but a name with the flying Queens in use during the Great War. The new queens are six-legged centaur-like beings formed from a conglomeration of DNA, including some from the Queen of Blades herself. These fully intelligent being's primary purpose is to oversee the construction and maintenance of specific hives and broods, though they are fully able and willing to defend their hives when threatened. There are a few queens on Mustifar and one on Spira but they rarely if ever leave their hives. [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Ultralisk Ultralisks] Ultralisks are 5 meter tall, 20 meter long behemoths dedicated purely to the distraction of all that they charge. Equipped with monomolecular edged, nearly indestructible tusk like blades, ultralisks cleave their way through legions of enemy troops in a frenzied charge. Luckily for Kerrigan's enemies, she has precious few ultralisks at her disposal. They can be found in the hive or close to Bevelle, where they await a major engagment. [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Corruptor Corrupters] Corrupters form the basis of Kerrigan's advanced air forces. These squid-like flying monsters are dedicated air-to-air combatants designed to outlast rather then outgun their enemies. To attack, they use parasitic spores which burrow through armor and flesh. When the skies are cleared, they can mutate into a second form, the [http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Brood_lord Broodlords] who focus on ground attacks at the exclusion of all else. They project zerg broodlings at their target, which then unfurl and continue to attack. Like the rest of the advanced units, corrupters and brood lords are found almost exclusively on Mustifar, though as space-worthy creatures, there's nothing preventing them from joining their Queen on a major offensive. 'New Strains' In addition to the Zerg mutations above, Kerrigan has developed entirely new zerg subspecies that are unique to the multiverse. 'Grunts' Zerg grunts are a humanoid zerg bioform derived from two of the Yol'ari daemons (Frel'naq and Ul'tak) that invaded the multiverse years ago, though their genetic code has been absorbed to the point where they can no longer be considered a hybrid species, but rather a new strain of zerg. Although a large portion of their physiology has changed, there outward appearance is not too different than the original lizardman-like Yol'ari. Because of their demonic heritage, grunts do not suffer the same vulnerability to fire as many zerg, instead suffering from a vulnerability to dark cosmic energy. They provide a slower, tougher close combat unit then the zerglings. At sufficiently advanced hives, the grunts can be upgraded with increased intelligence which allows them to use rudimentary weaponry, rather than just their claws. These advanced genotypes also retain the ability to speak the multiversal common language and operate with a minimal amount of oversight. This makes them particularly effective at garrisoning areas under the Lords of Midnight's control, but which are not zerg colonies. As such they can be found on the walls of Ganondorf's castle and the streets of Bevelle along with other locations. 'Cyberlisks' The cyberlisk is the newest strain of zerg to be introduced to the Multiverse. It is a highly specialized strain intended to fill a specific absence in the zerg species in the multiverse. Cyberlisks are hatched with a humanoid form and an array of cybernetic devices designed to allow them to easily interface with any technology typically found in the multiverse. In addition, they are all born with brain augmentations pre-programed with a wide array of technical knowledge, making them instant experts in their fields. Over the years Kerrigan has learned that the scorched earth methods the zerg usually employ often do not function well in the multiverse. While she has been able to adapt her swarm's tactics to fulfill this end, she found herself constantly running into issues with previously installed technology. The cyberlisk's non-organic parts, however make it very hard to produce, as the cybernetics installed in each one has to be either created by another cyberlisk, or purchased from someone else in the multiverse. This, on top of the complex hive required to create the genetic material for them, severely limits the number of cyberlisks in existence. Powers and Capabilities 'Queen of the Swarm' Although Sarah Kerrigan is primarily a psychic, and an extremely powerful one that that, her other skills and physical abilities should not be underestimated, particularly as she can boost them with her psychic powers, making her strong, faster and tougher then she looks. She’s also still a crack shot, a skilled driver and expert infiltrator. Psychically she primarily uses telepathic, telekinetic and electrokinetic powers. One thing her powers are not, however, is subtle. She tends to strength, rather than finesse, once her psychic abilities are in play. As a natural telepath, it takes conscious effort for her not to read the surface thoughts of someone's mind, unless that mind is shielded in some way. With concentrated effort, she can delve through a being's memories. Her telepathy and clairsentience also allow her to detect and single out people (particularly psychics) over great distances, such as locating all the protoss on a planet. It’s also worth noting that hurting or threatening Jim Raynor is something of a Berserk Button. She also has something of revenge and anger issues, though she is usually in control enough to avoid doing permanent damage to people or important things. 'RP Fights' Sarah is far more of a spell caster now than when she was in her Queen of Blades form, but she shouldn’t be confused for a lightweight, backline combatant. If caught within melee ranges, she is perfectly happy to go on the offensive, mixing her psychic abilities with direct martial arts. She has an over-all aggressive fighting style, focusing on rapid strikes and near-continuous attack. She can be a bit more cautious and deliberate at range, hugging cover and setting up for sniper shots. Also, dispite her much more human form, she is still Zerg, and shares their universal toughness and regenerative abilities. 'Stat Fights' Sarah Kerrigan is a strong individual combatant, and even with Cerebrate’s assistance, a strong squad leader. Although she is structurally a “wizard” type character, she her high hit points, strong defenses and lack of cross row abilities make her essentially a front line warrior. Although her traits are offensive in nature, the rest of her build is defensive, leaving her a balanced, long term combatant. Sarah has powerful offensive abilities, though they are often a bit behind other of equivalent strength. Her two single target attacks are inexpensive and cause minor status effects alongside damage, leaving her with the ability to deal solid consistent damage, but no apocalyptic super-strike. Her two powerful, medium cost multi-target attacks mean she makes short work of enemy swarms. As a natural result of her offensive traits, Kerrigan is based almost entirely around the Lightning and Space elements, and the Spell type. Sarah’s strong defensive capabilities come primarily from her equipment. She has a very high universal damage reduction, enough to reduce her weaknesses (Fire, Energy, Blunt &''' Melee') to normal levels, while making her virtually immune to all but the most powerful Biological or Space attacks. In addition to her resistances, she has swift regeneration in all four vitals, giving her a distinct advantage in long lasting combats. 'Kerrigan's Retinue' Rok'ark, Kerrigan's Bodyguard, is both physically powerful and more intelligent than most people give him credit for. In many instances he acts as Kerrigan's lieutenant, particularly where Cerebrate is not available. Neuromancer is a well-rounded magic user, often supplying Kerrigan with utility magic spells as they become necessary. He can learn almost any spell he can be instructed on, but does not do well trying to invent spells in the field. Octavia is nearly unique among the zerg with her abilities at breaking, repairing and operating nearly any kind of machinery. She's also good at assembling and disassembling creatures, but gets to practice that less often. 'RP Fights' Rok'ark is a defensive fighter, as befitting his role as a bodyguard. Having adopted the traditional weapons of his Yol'ari heritage, he is equipped with a carapace shield and toothed club. He uses both items to deflect or parry incoming attacks, being particularly skilled at stonewalling melee fighters. When he does attack, it's with a big, heavy swing of the club, typically with more than enough force to send someone flying. He is extremely loyal to his Queen and often had to be ordered away from those attacking her, for his own protection, as well as to create an opening. Neuromancer, on the other hand, tends to do his best to stay out of the viciousness of melee whenever possible. He is a magician by nature, and although has access to dozens of spells, he tends to stick with Blizzard and his Materia for the majority of his attacks. Nearly every spell he casts, however, is corrupted with poisons and insects. He also has zerg regeneration, but like most wizards, is most vulnerable in close combat. Octavia operates in melee ranges, though it will sometimes be to harm, and other times to heal. On occasion she'll even do both at the same time. When given the opportunity, she'll try and remove something from the enemy she attacks, be it their armor or their arm. She also likes to study her targets, quickly finding and identifying vulnerabilities. If the Zerg are taking a lot of damage, however, she'll often end up as a healer, putting her allies back together, usually Rok'ark. 'Stat Fights' Rok'ark has two traits that reduce damage from Melee, making it a very poor way to attack him. His tank ability also means he'll typically ensure at least one Melee attack (if occurring) does hit him. He also has the ability to spend an action to reduce incoming damage, making him very resilient to being swarmed with small attacks. He does have a vulnerability to projectile weapons however. He almost never attacks in a stat fight, unless an opponent is out of Dodge Points. Neuromancer has a number of high-EP attacks, and ways to make them even more powerful. He is typically part of Kerrigan's opening attacks because of this, but quickly makes himself the target of others' attentions. He can stick around a bit longer by hiding behind the rest of the Zerg while using over-the-row techniques, but inevitably has to burrow (withdraw) before the battle ends. He has the lowest vitals of the group, and Ice damage is particularly effective against him. Except against a single, low damage target, Octavia is typically on heal-duty for Rok'ark or Kerrigan. Her chain heal and chain attack abilities mean that the longer she stays on this duty for a single one of them, the more effective of a healer she becomes. In a match with another player character, she will often use her Decay ability early on to take out damage boosters or just force DP to be spent. 'The Swarm' While the swarm itself has numerous abilities, it is primarily a military force. The vast majority of biological forms found in the zerg collective are designed for the annihilation of their enemies. They are very capable of lighting raids, flanks and other subtle tactical maneuvers, but in general, these are just precursors and faints to buy time to build up a large force that will crash down on their targets like a wave of claws and teeth. When put on the defense, they become much more cunning. Zerg defenders will typically set up a series of ambushes, hiding their numbers either within scenery or by burrowing into the ground. From these hidden spots, they will launch surprise attacks on the rear or in the middle of attacking columns, trying to create as much fear and confusion as possible, where their instinctual nature and telepathic coordination grant them the greatest advantage. When one approaches the hive cluster itself, stationary defenses also come into play, zerg bioforms anchored into the creep to strike with a giant tentacle or launched spores. 'Quotes' *"Be careful boy, this is becoming a dangerous habit." -To Sora during their second joint battle against a common enemy. *"Every Zerg lives, breathes and dies at my command, where do you draw the line between me and these so called gods." - To a follower of Jake, during the God Wars. *"My memories of my time as… her are fragmented, contradictory. But somewhere among them, I remember the multiverse." 'Trivia' * Sarah Kerrigan is the oldest active character on the board. Only Sora (who is now part of Ventus) and Zexion (who has departed) joined earlier. * Kerrigan has traditionally ranked well in fan polls of video game villains, as well as in polls of video game women. 'See also' * Lords of Midnight, Sarah's current faction * Ascendancy, Sarah's original faction * Serina, Sarah's second character. * Chell, Sarah's third character. * Shui Zhu, Sarah's fourth character. 'External links''' * Sarah Kerrigan's Gameplay Statistics * Sarah Kerrigan on StarCraft Wiki Category:Player Characters